Wireless access networks that use a multi-carrier access technique, such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), allow the sub-channels and time slots of an OFDMA frame to be assigned to several users. Sub-channel quality and achievable throughput for each user may vary over time. Channel quality indicator (CQI) is a measure of sub-channel quality. Sub-channels may be allocated to users based on a variety of factors including but not limited to CQI. For example, CQI can be used to determine an appropriate modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to be applied to signals transmitted to a receiver. Communication of CQI, however, uses bandwidth that could otherwise be used to communicate other information such as data. Consequently, it is desirable to efficiently communicate CQI while taking into account limitations of available bandwidth.